Siena students root on their team during game two of the College Basketball Invitational championship series against Fresno State at the ARC on Wednesday April 2, 2014 in Loudonville, N.Y. (Michael P. Farrell/Times Union)

Siena head coach Jimmy Patsos argues a call during game two of the College Basketball Invitational championship series against Fresno State at the ARC on Wednesday April 2, 2014 in Loudonville, N.Y. (Michael P. Farrell/Times Union)

Wednesday night, the Siena College men's basketball team climbed into the hot tub time machine and went back to the day.

The Saints, who abandoned the Alumni Recreation Center for the bright lights of South Pearl Street in 1997, returned to their roots for Game 2 of the College Basketball Invitational (Yes! I'm not ashamed to say I caught CBI fever Wednesday night ... probably because I didn't have to pay $36 to get in).

For the first time in a long, long time, Siena played basketball that mattered in the ARC. And the place was hopping.

It didn't sell out, but 3,177 Siena lovers — and I thought there were more here than that — were ready to pounce on their heroes and cheer for them until the opponent, Fresno State couldn't think straight. And that would be the end of the story of the CBI. Siena sweeps best-of-three set in two; ticker tape parade around campus on Friday. Champagne for everyone!

And then everything went sour. Fresno State showed no fear of playing Siena in its little bandbox of a gym. Before you could say Marc Brown, the Bulldogs were up double figures in the first half and there was going to be no comeback like there was for the Saints out in California in Game 1. The final here was 89-75 and it never really seemed like it was that close. At one point, the Bulldogs were up by 26.

Home court advantage? Ha! Siena athletic director John D'Argenio should have made a deal with the CBI at halftime — and I am sure the CBI would have been more than happy to listen for, oh, say, $75,000, which the Saints are paying to play these CBI final games at home — and moved the second 20 minutes back to the cozy downtown confines of Times Union Center.

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It was a neat atmosphere at the ARC when the Siena fans started pouring in two hours before the game started. And it was neat to see the students all bunched together in the end zone the way they used to when Mike Deane was barking and yelling and screaming on the Siena sidelines. They went crazy back then and they went crazy on Wednesday when Jimmy Patsos began his sideline antics.

But none of his lung exercises worked on this night because the Bulldogs were plain and simple a better basketball team for 40 minutes.

Right from the start, it was apparent Fresno State was not going to take a beating and go home to the off-season. Nope, the whole team wanted to stick around for a few extra days in the Capital Region. Coach Rodney Terry said he may take his team up the Northway and take in the sites of Saratoga Springs. Maybe Patsos can lead the tour; he and his wife, Michele, live there.

The two teams will meet for the title Saturday morning at 11:30 (thank you very much, CBS Sports Network). I doubt very much there will be the same noisy atmosphere here then that there was Wednesday, but D'Argenio told me season-ticket holders had to buy the tickets in a package. So they'll be here. The students? Don't know. What do college students do on Friday night? Uh-huh. Saturday is usually a day of, ah, rest. At least until Saturday night.

Either way, you won't see Fresno State fearing a return trip to the ARC. They were anything but on Wednesday.

"We've got big-name teams in our conference (Mountain West) that will pack the house," said Fresno State senior guard Tyler Johnson. "We went down to Florida, we played at Pitt. We have played at some of the most hostile environments you could think of. We were ready to handle this one."

Fresno State played league opponents in front of 12,000 at San Diego State, 13,000 at UNLV and 10,000 at New Mexico. As raucous as the home crowd may have seemed to Siena Wednesday night, it might have been more like a pick-up game to Fresno. If you watched this game, you had to be wondering how the heck Siena won the first one.

Of course it helped that Fresno shot 63.9 percent from the field and made eight of 15 from 3-point range. The more athletic Bulldogs also outscored the Saints 35-18 from the free-throw line. When those things happen, home court isn't going to mean a darn thing.

"We were embarrassed a little," Siena junior guard Evan Hymes said about getting blown out at home. "We'll try not to think about it and stay positive. We have one more game."

The good thing about this whacky CBI format is that Siena has another chance on Saturday. And, the game is right here in the hot tub time machine. Siena gets a chance to go home again. Let's see what they do with it.